Super Mario Odyssey Reviews: 10 Critical Reactions You Need To Know

3. Handheld Mode Is Not Ideal

"I strongly recommend playing on a TV whenever possible. It’s not that it plays poorly in handheld mode – it runs perfectly smoothly at 60 frames per second in either mode, although there are no touchscreen controls even in minigames where they’d have made sense. The drawback to playing on the go is that the tiny screen doesn’t do nearly as good a job of showing off the scope and detail of the characters and worlds." - IGN

"Some of [Cappy's] abilities can be triggered via motion controls or button presses, but the few that require you to flick your controller one way or the other are unwieldy when playing specifically in handheld mode. It's a blemish, albeit a small one, as no critical objectives require complex manipulation of Cappy's trajectory." - Gamespot

"The physical controls are impeccably tight - so it's a shame the same can't be said of the few gesture controls. These are limited to simple flicks and, mostly, to useful but entirely optional cap maneuvers, such as throwing Capy in a spiral around Mario...The gestures are a little sluggish and unreliable, and although they do work (ish) on a Pro Controller, they are inaccessible when playing with the Joy-con clipped to the Switch in portable mode. It's frustrating - and very unlike Nintendo's record with Switch to date - to feel like the game's full toolset isn't available to you in every play scenario." - Eurogamer

Fans have been waiting to hear how Odyssey performs in the Switch's various versatile play styles, and the consensus among most reviewers seems to be that playing with split Joy-Cons on the biggest TV you can find is the best way to play.

Many critics praised the game's technical stability in handheld mode, holding a steady 60FPS, but also decried the Switch's small screen as failing the convey the game's huge scale adequately, and that some of the more fiddly motion control options were a non-starter.

In summary, it's fantastic to be able to play Odyssey on the move, but where possible, you're probably going to want to play it in a fairly "traditional" way.